Honor and Distinction
by ExactChase
Summary: The four kingdoms of Remnant survived the Great War, the Faunas Rights Revolution, and God knows how many Grimm. But, when Ruby Rose went after the Schnee Family, she inflicted more damage than all of the wars and Grimm combined. [M for Violence]
1. Family

Vytal, these kingdoms survived the Great Wars, the Faunus Rights Revolution, and God knows how many Grimm. But when Ruby Rose went after the Schnee Dust Company, she inflicted more damage than all of the wars and Grimm combined.

And it all started with a gun. A gun, whose barrel was pointed directly at Ruby's skull. And Ruby looked right back at the weapon, her eyes full of fear and anger.

Everything was in slow motion as Ruby saw the owner of the gun pull back the hammer, readying the gun to be fired. Ruby wanted to move, to grab the gun, to do something. But she couldn't will herself to move. So she just braced herself for the inevitable. She braced herself for the loud gunshot, and the bullet that would follow it. She braced herself for death.

But when the shot came, death did not follow. The bullet impacted Ruby's head, and she felt it tear through her. But when she landed on her back, she was still breathing. Ruby felt the blood slowly moving down her face, as she laid quietly on the hard, cold floor.

Ruby watched the room, watching her assailant violently toss her things around the room, pouring gasoline all over the floor of her dorm before striking a match and letting it fall to the floor. The gasoline quickly lit up, allowing the fire to spread across the room, consuming the paper that was now spread across the room, as well as Ruby's binder, which had been dropped upon her arrival.

Ruby closed her eyes, waiting for the fire to consume her, and end her pain. But when she opened them, she saw that the fire had touched every inch of the room, excluding the area where she laid. Some of the fire had gone out, but it left indications of where it had been in the form of scorch marks. Her bunk bed had fallen, the rope suspending it in the air had been burnt and snapped, smashing the bed below it. Yang's bed still stood on top of Blake's, but was burning, and was probably about to collapse at any moment.

Ruby let her heavy eyelids close one final time as she awaited her inevitable demise.

Jaune sprinted back to his dorm, keeping his eyes on the smoke filled sky, and the flames that licked the side of the building. Normally, Jaune wouldn't have given a fire in the dorms a second thought, but this was the biggest fire they had yet. And it was seemingly in RWBY's dorm. He had only really seen Ruby all day, and that was when she was on her way back to the dorms. And she had told him that she would meet his team and the remainder of her own in the library.

But she didn't show. Jaune had been sent to check on her when he saw the fire, and somehow he knew. He knew she was in there.

He immediately sprinted into the building, dashing up the stairs to his floor. He quickly ran through the smoky hallway, using his hoodie to cover his nose and mouth.

Jaune was not prepared for what he saw when he kicked down RWBY's door: Ruby was laying on the floor, in a pool of her own blood. There was a large wound on the side of her head, and the fire surrounded her, engulfing the room, which was more or less destroyed. His eyes widened as soon as he realized that Weiss must have had some sort of explosive dust in the room that was due to explode at any second.

He quickly grabbed Ruby, not thinking for a second that she might have been killed. He dragged her out of the room, and tossed her onto his shoulder, sprinting back out the way he came. Jaune made it halfway back down the stairs before a support beam collapsed above his head, causing a large amount of rubble to obstruct the door.

Jaune quickly turned around, running to the nearest hallway. He didn't like his current idea, but it was the only way he was going to make it out alive.

He scanned the hallway as he ran down it, looking for the nearest window. There was one at the end of the hallway, so he kept running, having no thoughts of slowing down. As he approached the window, he quickly spun around, going out the window backwards. He used his large reservoir of aura to shield both Ruby and himself from the impact of the ground.

Jaune quickly scrambled to his feet, checking Ruby's pulse and breathing to make sure she was okay. And she was. More or less. There was ton of blood coming from her head, and it had ruined her school uniform.

Jaune gently picked Ruby back up, carrying her bridal style to the infirmary, where they quickly took her, carting her away to some back room. They kept him in the waiting room as they awaited the arrival of Glynda and Ozpin.

When the two teachers arrived, one was seemingly fuming, and the other showed no expression whatsoever.

"First," Glynda angrily said, "A fire starts in the dorm building, then, we have a student come into the infirmary with a bullet wound in their skull. Both of which seem to revolve around Team RWBY!"

Ozpin ignored her statement, approaching Jaune.

"Mister Arc." He said. "Would you care to shed some light on the subject?"

Jaune told Ozpin exactly what happened, excluding no details about the fire or the state in which he found Ruby.

And once he was finished, Ozpin walked off, through the same door that they took Ruby through.

It was several hours before Ozpin remerged, motioning for Jaune to follow him back through the sliding doors. Ozpin led him down a long, white hallway, passing by several closed doors, doctors and nurses before they stopped at one of the closed doors. Ozpin turned to Jaune before he opened the door.

"What you see in here stays in here." He said. "Understood?"

Jaune meekly nodded.

"You shall not tell a soul that Miss Rose is still alive, and you may not speak about it outside of these walls."

Jaune's eyes widened. "Why are you trusting me with this?" He asked.

"Because she requested to see you." Ozpin said.

The headmaster opened the door, and ushered Jaune in, closing the door behind the blonde boy.

The room that he had entered was mainly white with hints of polished wood along the walls, and a rolled up curtain pressed against the wall, hanging from the ceiling. The room was rather large for a one person room, so it seemed as though they had taken out the other beds to isolate Ruby. There were many plugs on the wall behind the bed that Ruby lay on.

And Ruby herself, she looked like hell.

There was gauze wrapped around her forehead, stained red by the amount of blood seeping through. And her eyes groggily watched him as he approached her. There were all kinds of tubes running to her, but it seemed as though she had tried to take them off. A breathing tube did not rest on her face, but rather around her neck. Despite the full bag of morphine running to her IV, Ruby looked to be in an immense amount of pain.

Jaune grabbed one of the many chairs that were scattered around the room and pulled it up next to the bed, sitting down beside her.

"Jaune…" She said, her voice scratchy and hoarse. "I need you to make a phone call for me."


	2. Isn't

After Ruby told Jaune what to do, she drowsily watched him, as he remained seated, staring at her.

"Go." She tiredly told him. But he didn't move. His eyes were fixated on her, but his face matched that of someone who just saw something they hadn't noticed before, rather than someone who was worried for their friend.

"You feeling okay?" He asked her, tilting his head to the side.

"Yeah…" She said, not realizing that she was slurring her words.

Ruby blinked, and when her eyes opened, there were a few women in scrubs standing over her. Nurses. They were all holding her onto her side, uncomfortably mashing Ruby against the mattress. Ruby blinked again, and this time, when she opened her eyes, she was no longer in a hospital room, she was laying in her bed at her father's house in Patch. It was dark in the room, meaning that it was probably night. But this didn't stop Ruby from continuing to look around, examining every aspect of the room, from the Grimm figurines on her side of the room, to the yellow bed on the opposite side of the room. She could see that Yang was fast asleep in her own bed, facing towards Ruby, as if she was watching over the younger girl. Ruby grinned to herself, before letting her eyes shut, drifting back off to sleep.

The final time Ruby opened her eyes, the sun was shining through the curtains, splaying light all over the room. Noting that Yang had already gotten up, Ruby pushed the covers away from her, and swung her feet around to touch the floor. She then pushed off of the bed, attempting to stand. Her weak legs threatened to give out from underneath her, and she had to use the nightstand to keep herself from falling. And she almost did fall, her legs refusing to hold her weight anymore, and dropping her. Luckily, someone caught her, slinging her arm around their shoulder, and doing the same with their own arm.

"I gotcha." The man said. Ruby recognized the voice, but didn't really think too much into who it was. He began to help her walk down the hall, past the other rooms in the house, but when he came to the stairs, he stopped. The man suddenly swung Ruby's legs upward, catching her bridal style, and carrying her down the stairs. Now, Ruby could see his face. It was her father, carefully looking over Ruby's body so that he didn't trip and drop the poor girl.

Once Taiyang got to the bottom, he dropped Ruby's feet, causing her to yelp, but she managed to land on her feet and stay standing. Taiyang could see that she was now standing by herself, and let go of her. However, the protective father still hovered around her in case she fell.

Ruby slowly, carefully made her way over to the couch, her weak and wobbly legs threatening to give out.

Once she was sure that she didn't need to get up for any reason, Ruby laid back, staring at the ceiling.

"If you're gonna do that," Taiyang said. "Could you please close your eyes? You take really shallow breaths, so it kinda scares the shit out of me."

Ruby slightly chuckled and eased her eyes shut.

"Need anything?" Taiyang asked.

"I'm good." Ruby hoarsely told him.

Taiyang sighed, and Ruby heard him walk into the kitchen. A few moments later, she heard him return, feeling the vibrations of the large man's steps as he approached her. He placed something cold into her hand, before she felt the vibrations move a few feet away. Then, she heard the creaking of leather, and the sound of her father groaning.

"Drink that." She heard him command.

Ruby sighed, and—without opening her eyes—she reached down into her hand, and twisted the cap off of the plastic water bottle he had given her. She began to raise the bottle to her mouth, but Taiyang spoke again.

"Sit up." He told her. Ruby groaned and hunched over, before quickly emptying the water bottle into her mouth.

"Happy now?" She groaned, laying back.

Taiyang gave a grunt, as if to say that he was satisfied.

After a few minutes of silence, Taiyang finally spoke, "What happened?" He asked, his tone harsh and cold.

Ruby sat up. She had seen her father become angry before, but never on this level.

"Someone shot me." She told him. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I know that." He said. "Who?"

"I don't know who it was." She said. "But I know someone sent him."

Taiyang sat up. "A hitman?!" He asked, connecting the dots.

Ruby nodded. Taiyang immediately sprung from his chair, running into the next room and retrieving a gun. It wasn't his weapon of choice, but it was a weapon. A powerful one at that; it was a heavy revolver. He quickly made sure that it was loaded, flipping the chamber back into the gun.

"If they think I'm dead," Ruby said, "Why is it an issue?"

Taiyang sat back down, "Because, the people that attacked you, are going to come after Yang and I next."

Ruby's eyes widened. "What?!" She asked. "Why?!"

Taiyang's eyes softened, and he looked at her with a little more kindness.

"These are the same people that killed your mother." He said. "Up until they tried to kill you, they didn't even know you existed. But, now they know that the Xiao Long family was involved with the Rose family."

Ruby looked down, "I'm sorry." She sadly said.

"Don't be." He sternly told her. "Having a family with a Rose was my decision. I should have known, should have done something more to protect you and your mother."

"There's nothing you could have done." Ruby told him, not changing her tone in any way.

"Listen," he told her, moving forward in his seat. "I…" There was a pause. "I never told you the truth about how your mother died." Ruby looked up, but didn't look angry, so Taiyang continued. "She wasn't a huntress." He said, then he paused again, this time for much longer. "She… was the Don of the Rose family."

Ruby looked at him with a confused look upon her face.

"The what of the Rose Family?" She asked.

Taiyang bit his lip. "She worked for the Mafia." He told her. "But, even that is an understatement. She ran the whole Goddamn Kingdom of Atlas."

Ruby was shocked to hear this news, but still had many questions.

"What happened to her?" She asked.

Taiyang suddenly got up and peeked out the window, before leaning over the armrest of the couch.

"The Schnee Family wanted what she had, and so they did whatever they could to get it." He told her. "And that's what they did."

"So the Schnee's killed her?" Ruby asked.

He shook his head and began to pace. "Not immediately, no." He said. "First, they began to forcibly take over her rackets—businesses—and killing your aunts and uncles. Until it was just her. She sent us away." He looked down. "She was supposed to take care of the issue, then come here. But she never did. She never came back."

Ruby suddenly stood, her legs now fully cooperating with her.

"What do we do?" She asked him.

"There's not much we can do." He told her. "It won't be long until they figure out where the house is, then it'll be over. I'm going to call your sister." He got up and retrieved his scroll from his pocket, going into the next room.

Ruby shook her head, and returned to her room, determined that she would not let her family die, she sat on her bed for a while, considering her options. Then it hit her. She quickly ditched her pajamas and threw on jeans and a red shirt. Atop the jeans, she wore a pair of boots that looked very similar to regular boots, but without all the red and the frills.

Ruby then opened her closet, retrieving one of the only items she had from her mother; a thick, green, militaristic jacket, with "ROSE" written on the right breast, and "VALE" written on the other. On the back of the jacket was the Rose family crest, but instead of being red, it was black.

She wrapped the jacket around her body, feeling the welcoming warmth of its sleeves, despite having sat in a closet for fifteen years.

Next, Ruby walked into the bathroom, to get a look at herself in the mirror. The first thing Ruby noticed, was the white bandage wrapped around her forehead, stained light red on the right side of her head. Ruby began to unwrap the bandage, letting it fall to the floor as she got a look at the scar that went from her forehead, to the back of her head. The next thing Ruby noticed, was the length of her hair. She knew that she must have been out for a while for her hair to get this long; it was currently at a length similar to Blake's, rather than the short cut that she had been used to. Ruby sighed, before putting her hair up, into a ponytail, allowing her scar to be shown off. Then she grabbed the closest pair of scissors and cut off a majority of the long ponytail.

Finally, Ruby returned to her room, going back to her closet, where she found a large, metal chest. She quickly entered the code to open it, and pulled out a large, hunting knife, as well as a small handgun, both of which she put into the pockets on the inside of her jacket.

When she returned downstairs, she immediately went for the door, but her father stopped her.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"I'm going to go get help." She told him.

"It's dangerous out there." He told her.

She closed her eyes and sighed, "They shot me in the head. Most people don't live that. They think I'm dead." She said. "They're not going to come after me."

Taiyang didn't say anything more as she opened the door and left the house.


	3. Who

It had been months since Ruby had been "killed" and the dorms burned down and while most of Ruby's friends had moved on, the ones who knew the truth had not. Yang had gone home to be with her sister, having told the others that she just needed time away—after all, having to pretend to be grieving someone who wasn't really dead was hard, and Yang didn't like it, so she figured that if she went away for a bit, she could act as though she had moved on.

But even now, months later, Jaune felt as though Beacon was different without Ruby. It was quieter for sure, but not in a good way. He knew she'd be back, but based on the conversation he had with her, it didn't seem like she'd be back for education, but rather for revenge. At first, he had assumed that she just wasn't thinking straight, but after looking into it, he found that an injury like this could seriously affect her mental health. He quickly shook these thoughts away. He couldn't be thinking about this now. He had to get it out of his head before he started training with Pyrrha.

Jaune looked up to the top of the "new" dorm building and sighed. After the old dorm had burned down, the students had been moved to the second dorm building. However, because there was limited space, Weiss and Blake had to share a room with JNPR. It wasn't ideal, but it worked.

The blonde boy pulled open the door and began towards the stairwell, only to be grabbed and pulled under the stairs. He tried to yell out, but his mouth was covered by their hand. His assailant must of felt this in their hand, because they quickly whispered in his ear, "Quiet." It was a woman, with a very familiar voice. Then, he was ever so suddenly slammed against the wall, the woman never removing her hand from his mouth. But now she was in front of him, and he could see her face. "It's just me." Ruby reassuringly whispered. Jaune calmed a little as she removed her hand from his mouth.

"What are you doing here?!" He whispered back to her. She rolled her eyes.

"I need your help!" She told him.

"My help?!" He asked. "Why not Yang's?"

"Because," she began. "The people who came after me are going to come after her next."

"Why not Blake's?" He again tried to worm his way out of helping her. She was clearly getting irritated with him, so he didn't suggest another.

"That's what I need from you." She said. "I need you to tell Blake I'm alive, so that the both of you can help me with this."

"She's not going to believe me!" He said. "Why don't you just tell her yourself?"

"Please, Jaune," She pleaded. "Just do this for me…" Jaune sighed.

"Okay…" he said. "Fine. But you'll have to give me some time." Ruby smiled.

"Of course." She said. "I have other things to do anyway." And with that, she disappeared into a cloud of rose petals.

[Shift]

If Ruby was being honest with herself, she knew that what she was going to do was very illegal. But she didn't care. She wanted revenge. She wanted to repay the Schnee family for everything they had done to her and her family. She wanted to reclaim what her family had lost so long ago. But most of all, she wanted to protect what little family she had left. If they died, she would be all alone with most of the world believing her to be dead. This was for a good cause, she had convinced herself of that.

But as she dialed her uncle's number, she wasn't sure if he'd approve. He'd have to. It was his family too. She quickly tapped the call button, and after a few minutes of ringing, a man's voice came through her scroll.

"What'cha need, kid?" Qrow asked.

"I need you to do some surveillance for me… if you're available." She said. She heard him take a sip from his flask.

"Nah. I'm not doing anything. Who'm I lookin' into?" He asked.

"That's where this gets a little complicated." She said.

"You don't know who, do you?" He asked.

"No." She said. "I know who. It's just a lot."

"I can handle it." He said, sounding very proud of himself.

"I need you to get me information on the entirety of the Schnee family. The ones that are a part of the 'family business' anyway." She said, bracing herself for whatever yelling that might come through the other end.

"And let me guess," He began. "Don't tell your dad?"

"How did you—?"

"Listen, kid." He said. "I know enough about the Rose family to know what you're doing here. And if I'm gonna be honest; it's about damn time."

Ruby was shocked by this statement. "You mean you're not gonna try and stop me?" She asked.

"From taking what's rightfully yours? Hell, no." He said. "I've been preparing for this conversation since you were old enough to want to fight. Just swing by my place whenever you get your army together. Won't be easy, but I'm gonna send you the profiles of a few people I think might help." The call abruptly cut off and seconds later, Ruby received a text from Qrow; three full profiles of the people she'd need to recruit and why they'd be of any help to her. Of course, Ruby was happy to see that Blake and Jaune were of the three, with Blake being able to—with her assistance—take back the White Fang in order to help her with this. And Jaune, being the leader he was, could recruit and lead an army for her. But the final was shocking; Weiss. The profile said that she hated her father, and the way that he ran things, meaning that she would willingly become their ally. Because she was a Schnee, she could also get them access to events that the Schnee family would attend.

"This isn't going to be easy." She said to herself.

 **A/N: I'm back after almost a year. And hopefully this won't be the only chapter for a year!**


	4. You're

Weiss, Blake and Jaune all sat around a table in a dimly lit room, unable to see much other than each other. Weiss and Blake didn't know why they were here, or even who called them there. They just knew that Jaune had been told to bring them there by a mutual friend. At first they would have thought it was Yang, but Yang and Jaune weren't exactly friends. This left few other options, one of which didn't even cross their minds; it was too painful to think about.

The door soon opened, allowing light and the silhouettes of a man to come through. But the door closed behind them before they could see who it was. Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long before the man stepped into the light. He was a scruffy looking man, with his style holding the resemblance of Weiss and Blake's former leader.

"May I ask who you are and why you've brought us here?" Weiss politely asked the man. He gave a vague nod.

"My name is Qrow Branwen." He said. "I don't know if Ruby ever mentioned me, but I'm her uncle." Weiss and Blake winced at the mention of Ruby, but continued to listen to the man. "And I brought you here to meet someone. She has a proposition for you." A woman suddenly leaned into the light, her face still being covered by the darkness, but they could see her long, green sleeves as well as her slender, pale hands.

"As I'm sure you're aware," She began, speakingin a low, hushed tone. "Three months ago, Ruby Rose was murdered in your dorm room." They all collectively nodded. "What would you say if I told you that I know who did it?"

"I'd tell you to go to the police with this information." Weiss told her.

"No." The woman said. "This is much larger than any police force. The murder was committed by one of the largest crime syndicates to ever grace Remnant with its presence."

"Who?" Blake quietly asked.

"The Schnee Family." The woman said. Weiss suddenly stood up.

"I know my family is guilty of numerous less than legal acts, but murder? I find that hard to believe. I demand to know where you got this information from!" She said, a scowl painted on her face. The woman began to lean forward, allowing her face to be bathed in light. Weiss and Blake's eyes widened at the sight in front of them.

"Y-you're alive…" Blake said, fighting a smile. Weiss only quietly sat down, her eyes stuck on the scar that ran from Ruby's forehead, to the back of her head.

"It'll take a hell of a lot more than one bullet to kill me." Ruby said, smirking.

"Why do you need our help?" Weiss asked. "If killing my father is what you're after, it surely wouldn't be very hard." Ruby shook her head.

"I don't want to kill your father. I want to make him feel what I—my family has felt." She said. "I want to take everything from him. I want him to know that he has nothing left. Only then can he die."

"All this over one bullet?" Blake asked.

Ruby shook her head again. "No." She said, suddenly motioning for Qrow to come back in. She stepped back and he stepped in.

"Back when the Schnee Dust Company was nothing but a small business. Back when they really were the best out there, they were overshadowed by a much larger company; The Rose Dust Company. Owned and operated by Ruby's mother; Summer. Except they weren't just Dust Companies." He said. "They were fronts for the mob. The bigger the company, the bigger the family. The Rose Family was, of course the biggest. Until they went on to do business with the SDC. Small time partnership is all. This was around the time that Summer actually took control of the company after she graduated Beacon.

"Your father took control of his family business around that time as well. And he's a greedy man. He wanted everything the Rose Family had. So he took it. He tracked down and killed everyone who carried the last name Rose. Except for Ruby. For the past fifteen years, I've been ensuring that Schnee never found out about her. But when she got put on a team with a Schnee, we knew it was only a matter of time. I began planning to try and kill Jacques before he killed Ruby. And as you can tell, he worked a little faster than I did." Weiss and Blake had no words. Weiss was mortified to find that her family had done such horrible things to her friend.

"How are we going to be doing this?" Jaune spoke up.

"Well," Qrow said. "You might not like this, but we plan on enlisting the help of the White Fang for this one."

Blake shook her head. "What makes you think their leader would work with us?" She asked.

"He won't." Qrow said. "We're going to take the White Fang from him. And you are gonna be in charge of them."

"Me?" Blake asked, shocked.

"Yeah, you." He said. "If they'll follow that psycho, no questions asked, they'll follow you."

"What about the rest of us?" Weiss asked.

"You can use your father's money to buy yourself an army. Gain their loyalty, so that he can't outbid you. And you, blondie; you can go into the… less fortunate parts of town and recruit the desperate and strong." Ruby stepped back in.

"Weiss and Jaune will be on their own for this. Come back here when you're done. However, Blake; I will be accompanying you on your mission. Adam Taurus is not an easy target after all."

They all stood up and left, the exception being Blake, Ruby and Qrow.

"How exactly are we going to kill Adam?" Blake asked.


End file.
